Security forces searched the streets of Karachi for gunmen on Tuesday (June 10), following an attack on the security academy at the city's airport.
A group of gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on an academy run by the Airports Security Force (ASF) and fled after security forces retaliated.
Pakistan's Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack, less than 48 hours after an all-night siege by Taliban gunmen at Pakistan's busiest airport that killed more than 30 people.
A Reuters correspondent near the airport of Pakistan's commercial capital heard gunfire and saw at least four ambulances heading to the scene.
There was no immediate word on casualties from the latest attack. The army's press wing said there were three or four attackers on motorbikes, whereas an ASF spokesman said there were two.
Security forces could be seen patrolling the streets on foot searching for the perpetrators of the latest attack. Vehicles with mounted weaponry were positioned on roads.
Two days earlier, 10 militants disguised as security force members and armed with rocket-propelled grenades stormed the airport, one of the most brazen attacks in a long-running Pakistani Taliban insurgency.
The late Sunday (June 8) assault, in which 34 people were killed, destroyed prospects for peace talks between the Taliban and the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and triggered speculation that the army might opt for an all-out offensive against militant strongholds.
Early on Tuesday, Pakistani fighter jets bombed Taliban positions on the Afghan border.
It was unclear if the latest air strikes signalled the start of a broader offensive in the North Waziristan region where the al Qaeda-linked Taliban are based, or indeed if they had been carried out in retaliation for the airport attack.
The air force has periodically conducted raids to bomb Pakistani Taliban positions in the lawless, ethnic Pashtun region but has yet to launch a major offensive.
The semi-autonomous Pashtun lands along the border, known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, have never been brought under the full control of any government.
The Pakistani Taliban, an alliance of insurgent groups fighting to topple the government and set up an Islamist state, said they had carried out the late Sunday attack in Karachi in response to the air strikes on their strongholds.
REUTERS